We went into Paris for a couple of days to see all the tourist things that we have so far missed. We started with a bus tour that rode around the city and allowed us to get off and on at stops of our choice, or just see things from the open top buss itself.
The Paris Opera House.
This monument was made from all the Russian cannons that were seized by Napoleon's army.
Here is the plaza where thousands of heads were lost during the Revolution or Reign of Terror.
We drove past this several times. Our kids tactfully pointed it out each time.
The Grand Palace.
The Arc de Triumph.
Eiffel Tower
Then we did a little walking. We walked to a little street off the tourist path and found some of the best French bread, cheese, and pastries for lunch. Then we kept walking.
This building was once used as a hospital for wounded soldiers.
Now it is The Army Museum aka Napoleon's Tomb.
Above Napoleon's Tomb.
The Tomb of Napoleon.
This museum had extensive displays depicting the events of WWI and WWII. This is a German Enigma machine used during WWII.
Napoleon's Horse. Seriously, here it is stuffed and on display. Napoleon was a small man and his horse was pretty small too.
Jacob doing his best Napoleon.
Notre Dame Cathedral.
This is the Bastile, or the monument where the Bastile was before it was destroyed at the start of the French Revolution. This was a pretty far walk off the bus route, but everyone wanted to see it.
We decided to eat our dinner here.
It was a very nice view and a great quiet meal. Plus our legs were pretty tired.
The Monument is in the middle of a busy traffic circle as you can see here.
The next day pour Jane could hardly walk. She had a definite limp in her step, but she didn't even complain. So we headed back into Paris to go to The Louve.
We had been here before, but we came in from underneath with a tour group and we didn't have time to see all the art we wanted.
The outside of the palace itself is impressive.
This is the closest thing they have to "Crown Jewels" The one on the right is suppose to be Charlemange's, but many think it was just recreated by Napoleon so he could be crowned with it. Most of the Jewels and belonging of royalty were looted during the revolution.
The life size crowning of Napoleon.
Here is the garden where we had our lunch.
We then headed to the Arc de Triumph. We wanted to climb to the top, but Jane's limp was not getting better and although she hadn't mentioned it, we couldn't imagine asking her to climb that many steps, so Robin decided to find a nice corner under the Arc out of the wind to wait with littles while Nato took the bigs up. What we found though was an elevator and a kind lady willing to let us use it!
Up we went and what a great view.
It was really fun to see this view after all our touring. We could point out all of the monuments we had visited and even some extras.
We successfully spent two days walking and walking our little legs, and feel we saw all the Paris things we would like to see.
A monument to all the fallen soldiers of France.
